teachers

I love Sean’s Deja Vuesday. They are weekly reminders of moments I might have otherwise forgotten. Today I’m turning back to a post originally on Namas Daisy titled, “Writing With My Least Dominant Hand.”

Children do learn as they live, but so do adults. Mia is in a Dual Immersion Spanish program. She is finishing her first trimester as a first grader or “grader” as she likes to refer to herself now that she is not in kindergarten anymore. Max starts kindergarten next fall and Mia is taking advantage of all the moments of not having to share the playground with her baby brother.

Max is gifted with as much language as she, except he cannot do it in Spanish….yet (though he nailed potty training in about an hour). Neither can Mommy, though I am doing everything I can to keep pace. I tell myself daily “You can do better. Just jump into conversation with the other moms and dads at pick up time, and speak a little social Spanish.”

I am quiet at pick up time. I listen and observe. I am learning. I am in the silent phase of acquiring language.

Stage 1: Listening.

If you enter Mia’s immersion classroom, the vehicle driving instruction is LANGUAGE. No, not conjugating verbs or memorizing prepared meaningless dialogue. Rather, one would see children using Spanish by speaking, reading, writing, adding, discussing fractions, measurement, conducting science experiments, arguing, singing, whispering – every bit in Spanish.

This of course is directed by the guidance of a teacher who follows the same curricula as the district’s English only classrooms, but she gives Mia a gift that I cannot – the mother tongue of Spanish with perfect delivery and high expectations.

We wanted this program for Mia, longed for it and cried when we did not get accepted during the first round of school of choice applications. Mia is able to maintain English and absorb a second tongue while her brain is most receptive to learning language. Her academic and social gains, across cultural, ethnic and linguistic boundaries are some of the most positive public education experiences I have been a part of in 20 years of teaching.

It is also the hardest and most challenging endeavor for me.

For Writer Dad and Mia, speaking Spanish is like taking a breath of fresh air. They skip rope with Spanish like we all skip rope with English. For me, speaking Spanish is like white knuckling the edge of the North rim of the Grand Canyon before dropping into the deep depths of the wild unknown.

This is a recent homework assignment which Mia attacked with enthusiastic speed, proficiently giving it her all, and finishing with the pride and detail that is our family’s trademark.

Estimados Padres,

Por favor ayuden a su hijo/a a escribir un parafo con 5 o mas oraciones acerca de las jirafas. Adentro de su folder encontraran intomacion importante acercad de las jirafas que aprendimos en clase. Nota: Esta tarea los va preparar para el ecamen de escritura del Miercoles.

Gracias,

Senora Alaniz

Translation:

Dear Parents,
Please have your child write a paragraph with 5 or more sentences about giraffes. Inside his/her homework folder you will find some important facts they have learned about giraffes. Note: This homework will prepare them for their writing test on Wednesday.

The light at the end of the tunnel was a note Mia had written to me after our last homework session. I found it written on red paper (my favorite color) and in her best first grade penmanship rolled up like a scroll tied in white ribbon. It said:

Dear Mommy, You are the best Mom. You try so hard and you are smart. Don’t give up, keep on trying because you are the best. I love you so so so sooooooo much. Thank you for helping me. xoxo Mia

If wouldn’t make you weep I don’t know what would. Her words of encouragement made me hold tighter and try harder this weekend when we had to plot out a weather pictograph and write a paragraph about it. I want to be able to skip rope with Mia and Writer Dad in Spanish. Max and I are ready, and guess what?

Max is also left handed.

I can add writing with my left hand to model for my son, so I can both feel and understand the difficulty of writing with my least dominant hand, then add it to my to do list under master Spanish. It takes time, but that is the best gift I have to give my children.

Here is Mia’s exam on Giraffes. She received a score of a “4″ which in Dual Immersion Land means advanced proficient.

Las Jirafas

Las jirafas son mamiferos. Tienen crias cuidan a sus crias las crias toman leche de su mama y tambien tienen cuellos muy largos, manchas cafes, y colas muy largos. Viven en la savana de Africa. Comen hojas verdes de los arbols y palitos. Algo de sus adapsienes son: manchas, cafes para camuflajearse, cuellos my largos para ver cuando sus en emigos van a atakar y duermen a dos horas por dia. Jirafas son amigables.

Can you translate this without running to Google?

Cindy Platt is an educational consultant and home school expert.

Today marks the return of Lucas. This is his fourth visit, third credited. Please enjoy.

Hi again, it’s Lucas. I’m just sitting here in class,
considering a conclusion that I didn’t want to pass.

I was diddling some doodles, on my paper with my pen
when I had a little insight that was altogether zen.

The thought was kind of large, at least larger than me,
but it shined a bit of light on the way that things should be.

You may think it silly, but I have some concern
about the way we get our answers and the way that we all learn.

The way our teachers teach us, well it’s based on an old system.
Now that times are changing, I think we should be changing with them.

The methods they use now reward all those who memorize the most.
Learn by rote, take the test and then they’re fit to boast.

But facts and figures fall to fruitless when you’re looking at your feet,
and find that they’re now bopping to a wholly different beat.

It blew in like a cyclone, this redefining shift.
We didn’t catch it quickly. Now we’ve found ourselves adrift.

You see, a system built on answers simply can not grow.
We need creative queries to bring us brand new things to know.

With the Internet inside our palm, answers lose their worth.
The techniques we use to learn deserve to have a brand new birth.

Questions have more value because they teach us how to think;
our thoughts and are behavior share an undisputed link.

Should we absorb the moment of that first shot in a war
or could there be some bigger issues that we could explore?

If we believe that answers shouldn’t come first anymore,
then we’ll develop questions that have not been thought before.

Let’s ponder this example: let’s bow our heads and think.
Take your time, take a breath. Okay, now go ahead and blink.

Let’s flip back in time a while to when Human Beings were new.
Before we had societies, in the dawn of our debut.

We were not committing answers then, with just one thing to solve.
The question we were asking was, “now, how can we evolve?”

First we worked with fire. Then we worked the land.
We had so many questions, and so much to understand.

We created language, art, religion and set Governments in place,
as the entire population spread across our planet’s face.

Now we have computers and answers oozing cheap.
It’s time for the entire race to take another giant leap.

Let’s ask ourselves about our future and discover what is next.
If we start out asking simply, we can soon grow more complex.

The next time that your teacher asks the answer to a question,
raise your hand and say “Excuse me, but I’ve got a suggestion.”

Say, “Answers were for yesterday. I’m looking toward our fate;
a future filled with such potential, I can hardly wait.

Perhaps tomorrow we’ll have a world where there isn’t any war;
no disease, hungry people, or violence any more.

If we start knowing what to ask, our future has no ceiling.
I know that I am just a kid, but listen to my feeling.”

You can be just like my teacher when I told her the word.
She said, “Lucas Bright, that is the smartest thing I’ve ever heard!”

Sean Platt is a dad, ghostwriter, and occassional potty training expert.

Skipping Rope

Translation:

Las Jirafas

Questions are the New Answers

A Promise to My Family

The Best of Writer Dad